Reeve posted the question "should discussion of hacking and botting be allowed at QCDN.org?" A unanimous response was given that said "No." I went ahead, read the topic you refer to and excised two posts that seem to reflect the issue the best.
-- wether the mods allow it or not, the community wouldn't let it happen. You might find 1 relevant post out of 20 in a thread about hacking. The rest would be nothing but ridicule and insults.
Trippy is right, QCDN would not allow discussion of how to use a fishbot, or claim bot. Any topic that had anything to do with it would probably be reported and destroyed by the moderators within 15 minutes of the OP. However, windower seems to fall under a different category in the minds of 95% of FFXI players.
Personally, I suppose I can agree TParty gives me an advantage over the PS2 player. On a macroscopic level it may even allow linkshells to gain small advantages. The only other plugin that I have tried is Bloodpace, which is definitely a weakness to the FFXI interface, but gives no advantage a timer or stop watch wouldn't give.
My preference is to not allow it. My reasoning for this is most bot writers will not discuss technical information in a public forum. Most of the posts we will see will be links to bot programs, how to fix/work guides, scripts for bots, etc. None of which is really going to provide value to the people not cheating.
This is where it starts running a little thick -- Windower Scripts. Whether we like it or not, the potential is there for automated actions. Whether it is macros, or the ability to target alliance members, what have you -- this is circumventing mechanics in my opinion. Am I guilty of using Windower Macros? Yes. I got tired of reformatting my computer to just have to rebuild all 8 macro sets.
As illegal as using Windower is, it is also technically against the ToS to copy the 'user' folder, so I am damned if I do, damned if I don't.
Why is this topic still here? I have to answer hard questions and easy ones, so I'll try my best to find common ground. The QCDN member base has not expressed sentiment that Windower is a cheat. Square Enix, as Garvin's signature shows, says very much otherwise.
I can lock the thread, but it won't change anyones opinion. I could delete the thread, but eventually another would be made in its place. We can ban talking about Windower, but that would be unpopular.
The problem is the varying definition of what constitutes cheating in FFXI. DAT swaps are against the ToS and I don't know if anyone has spoken out against those. (I don't mean switching Fafnir for a Rabbit, I mean changing outfits). Several people see Windower as "de facto" because of SE's very poor customer service for PC players. However, QCDN is capable of taking a hard line against this with SE's release of a functional Windower. Then of course, there are the outliers that swing all the way to the left, saying stopwatches are unfair, and then those too the right that say all is fair in love and war.
Thats why the topic is still here. We aren't sure as a community where the line is. It kind leaves a very extemporaneous solution up to the moderator of choice on how to handle this. Is it what SE says or is it what the user's say? SE doesn't use this board, we do.
I would recommend Board Support and Feedback topic specifically addressing Windower. I would challenge anyone that provides feedback to think carefully on what they think is cheating.
